Coronavirus: Stranded NI medical student back from Peru ... and straight into self-isolation

Amy Brennan from Hillsborough had to wait almost two weeks to get a repatriation flight after returning from a mountain hike to find the entire country had shut down.

The 22-year-old and fellow medical students Harriet Deo and Ciara Fitzgerald from the University of Sheffield faced a nervous wait in a hostel in the city of Arequipa as they tried to secure a passage home.

It finally came at the beginning of the week thanks to the Irish Embassy.

Amy said: “It had been frustrating watching a lot of the other embassies get their people home.

“It was actually organised through the Irish Embassy in the end. They were really, really on it, far more so than the British Embassy. I was lucky that I had a British and an Irish passport.

“There were eight of us in the hostel I was at who got lifted by the Irish Embassy and about 15 in Arequipa altogether.”

They made the 17-hour bus trip to Lima, followed by a flight to London and a connecting flight to Dublin for Amy.

Of her emotional homecoming she said: “I’m so happy to be back. It was quite sad not being able to hug my family when I saw them. I got a leaflet when I landed in Dublin telling me to self-isolate for 14 days.”

Amy is at her family home in Hillsborough with her mum, dad and two sisters.

She said: “My mum is being quite careful. I’m keeping my distance from the rest of the household. For example, I’ve to eat separately.

“My parents and my sister had already been self-isolating and then my other sister Anna came home from uni and I came back from Peru on Monday. They were already on day 10 when we came into the house so that’s messed everything up again.”

Amy, a fourth-year medical student, was in Peru for her elective medical placement: “I don’t know if there will be another opportunity to do my elective. Preferably I’d like to go away again but I’m not sure what the travel restrictions will be like for the next year or so.”

She said it was “strange” when she parted company with Harriet and Ciara: “We got quite used to each other’s company. I don’t know when I’ll see them again.”

Amy hopes to be able to put her medical training to use by volunteering when her isolation is over.